Music archive at Rhythmic Dissonance

Archive for the 'Music' Category

Mar

Fresh From The Randomizer

By Raj 3 Comments

Categories: Thoughts, Random, Blog, Music and Life

There used to be a time when no matter what I read or heard never moved me much. Not anymore! I seem to be in a place where most of the things I read affect me. I take in much more now. Even the music I listen to makes more impact now than ever before. I am unsure if this is good or bad but I think I should be more careful about what I read or listen to. I should filter out all the things that are unworthy of my time. Something that caught my attention in particular was this post which lists what really “determines whether someone has crossed from boyhood into manhood”.

During a visit to my hometown last week, I was just looking around and noticed how everything in and around my home, the places nearby and almost everything has a story. Its somehow connected to my life there which I will always remember. In fact, the place has changed a lot. Even my house isn’t the same. It has changed over the years. But I remember everything exactly the way it was when I was a kid. And that’s how it will forever remain etched in my memory.

I just added a new sidebar widget that shows my latest tweet posted on twitter. Its on sidebar 2 which means it will only be displayed on the home page (just below the latest sidenote). This was something I wanted to do last year when I moved to wordpress but for some reason unknown even to me, I just didn’t do it! But its on now so you can read my rants real time (and even follow me if you like the way I do it).

Remember the flying plastic bag scene from “American Beauty”? (No? Well, watch it here.) Some people loved it, some hated it. But the background music used in the scene is just mesmerizing and there’s no doubt about that. The music piece is “Any Other Name” by Thomas Newman and you can listen to the whole piece here.

Feb

What I Love About Me

By Raj 11 Comments

Categories: Lists, Music and Life

Yesterday was Valentine’s day and its a day dedicated to people we love. But do we ever stop and think about loving ourselves. Its no secret that I love myself and I don’t mind being called a narcissist once in a while. In fact, I believe that self-love is important. A famous quote goes “Love yourself, for if you don’t, how can you expect anybody else to love you?”. Why depend on others for love? Just love yourself! Also, listen to the song “Love You” by The Free Design. Its a nice, upbeat song and is sure to bring a smile to your face.

Now, like I’ve done many times in the past, I list few interesting/weird/boring facts about me:

I often run late in the morning and have to run half the way to the stop to catch the office shuttle. As a result, while walking back home in the evening, I sometimes feel that walking is too slow and boring and so I run at least for some distance even in the evenings.
I like well-illuminated plants and trees at night.
Almost every time I try to help a stranger in a “random act of kindness”, I never get any thanks or even a smile from the stranger help. Even though I help them!

Dec

Best Music I Discovered in 2007

By Raj 11 Comments

Categories: Lists and Music

I am aware that all of these artists have been around for years. Its just that I happened to discover them this year.

1. Stars: They are a Canadian indie pop-rock band.
Found them through: the song “Calendar Girl” on last.fm.
I like: the fact that they are one of the few rock bands with many great duets thanks to the two lead singers, Amy Milan and Torquil Campbell. Love their music and wordplay as well as experiments with electronica.
Favorite work: Almost half the songs on the albums ‘Hearts’, ‘Set Yourself on Fire’ and their latest release, ‘In Our Bedroom after the War’. My favorite tracks are “The Night Starts Here”, “The Big Fight” and “Look Up”.
File next to: Rilo Kiley, Broken Social Science.

2. The Postal Service: They are an electronic rock band.
Found them through: the song “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight” on last.fm.
I like: their sound. Its all about the sound! The lyrics, though mostly good, come second.
Favorite work: I love all the songs on their only album, ‘Give Up’ but “Clark Gable” and “Brand New Colony” are the ones I like the most.
File next to: The Shins, Frou Frou, Death Cab for Cutie.

3. Camera Obscura: They are a Glaswegian indie band.
Found them through: the song “Houseboat” on last.fm.
I like: their unique timeless, country sound and Tracyanne Campbell’s voice.
Favorite Songs: There are just too many! “Tears for Affairs”, “The Last Song”, “I Don’t Do Crowds”, “Happy New Year”, “Let’s Get Out Of This Country” and “Country Mile” top the list though.
File next to: Belle & Sebastian.

4. Nitin Sawhney: He is an English musician who is considered to be one of the pioneers of Asian underground music in the UK.
Found him through: the video for “Koyal” on music channels though I knew about him even before that.
I like: his eclectic, soothing music, trippy music.
Favorite Work: Almost all of ‘Philtre‘ and the songs “Nadia”, “Breathing Light” and “Spark”.
File next to: Talvin Singh.

5. Talvin Singh: They are a Canadian indie pop-rock band.
Found him: because of the Nitin Sawhney connection though I had seen the video for his song “OK” years ago.
I like: his ambient, fusion music. Its almost magical.
Favorite Songs: “The One”, “Its Not Over”, “Butterfly” and “Abalonia”.
File next to: Nitin Sawhney, State of Bengal.

6. Agnee: They are an Indian rock band.
Found them through: their video for “Sadho Re” on music channels.
I like: their unique (for Indian bands) sound and strong vocals.
Favorite Songs: “Shaam Tanha” and “Kuch Ankahee”.
File next to: Strings, Junoon, Pentagram.

7. Interpol: They are an indie post-punk rock band.
Found them through: shared music on the office network.
I like: their hazy sound. It sends me into a vortex. (Okay, that made no sense!)
Favorite Songs: “Obstacle 1″, “Evil” and “PDA”.
File next to: The Arcade Fire, The Shins.

8. Jack Johnson: He is a Hawaiian singer/songwriter/musician/surfer.
Found him through: a friend.
I like: his relaxed style of music with clear guitary sound which is rare to find in most of today’s overproduced music.
Favorite work: The songs “Better Together”, “No Other way”, “Banana Pancakes” and “Sexy Plexi”.
File next to: John Mayer, Dave Matthews, Jason Mraz.

Feel free to share any new music that you might have discovered recently!

Oct

Home Sick

By Raj 19 Comments

Categories: Pictures, Ranting, Happy, Travel, Television, Music, Blog, Funny and Life

Last Wednesday, after being confined to my home on the bandh day, I swore to myself that I would not stay at home the whole day ever. And I spent the whole of Thursday and Friday very much at home because I was down with viral fever. Oh, the irony of life! But those two days and two long nights were horrible. I constantly ran a fever of 103.5 degrees and hence couldn’t sleep. To make things worse, this was the first time I fell ill since I started living alone and so I had no medicines other than few homeopathic ones from my dad.

On Wednesday night, when the illness started, I employed my mp3 player to help me sleep and it worked for sometime. I was starting to feel really sad about the whole situation cos I was sick and all alone but Frou Frou helped me get over it by singing “There’s beauty in the breakdown” in my ear. And so at 3:15 am, I called up my landlady and asked for medicines.

I am much better now. The motivation for getting better, of course, is that I’m going to Lucknow tomorrow for Diwali. And its been a year since I went home. I last went on last Diwali. The difference this time would be that my parents now have broadband at home so I will keep posting and keep reading other blogs. In fact, I may be able to post more than I do now.

And even though I don’t write too many posts these days, its good to know once in a while that my blog can keep people occupied for hour(s) and even make them come back as is evident in screenshot 1, screenshot 2 and screenshot 3. (The third visit was longer than the screenshot). I think that’s enough reason to feel good about. What do you think?

Update: In a major offence, I forgot to tell you all about my new pictures from my trip to Nagarahole in which I saw crocodiles, elephants, dears, birds, a fox and a will boar. The pictures can be found on flickr, as always.

Update 2 This is a small clip from one of the funniest episodes of Family Guy. Take a look. It’s just too funny!! Watch it, please!

Sep

Digital Dreams

By Raj 13 Comments

Categories: Television, People, Blog, Music, Movies and Life

I wanted a change in my life and given the limited control I actually have on things, I decided to make my life a little more fun by buying a brand new TV, a new DVD player and to top it all, I got digital cable. Basically, few things I wanted for a long time now. The result is that I can now watch Family Guy whenever I want to and I don’t have to worry about bad cable reception.
I strongly believe that it should be illegal to talk on the cellphone while in the toilet. Seriously, do these people who talk on the phone while on the toilet tell the caller about where they are? And how do they explain the flush sound to the caller? And believe me, the other people in the bathroom don’t need to hear someone in the toilet stalls talking on the phone either. And unless there’s a law against it, people will continue doing it. So it must be made illegal. Now!
I was a little surprised to see John Mayer’s new album, Continuum, in the new releases section at Planet M last Sunday. I didn’t expect it to be released in India so soon. Needless to say, I bought it. I can completely relate to the opening song, “Waiting on the World to Change”. Take a look at the lyrics. I think most of us would agree with the viewpoint of the song. Its a nice song. And the rest of the album is good too.
I’ve seen quite a few movies recently but I think I will save my short reviews for the next post. The post frequency has been dropping rather drastically as it is.
Oh, and this post has been written using Windows Live Writer. Its a great tool. A must for all bloggers.